"Be not deceived,...he that soweth to the flesh shall of theflesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall ofthe Spirit reap life everlasting."Galatians 6:7,8 .

THE APOSTLE here brings to our attention
the fact that there is danger of some of the
Lord's people being deceived.
Some might
think that they could live according to their
earthly desires, fleshly desires, and then attend
meeting, or observe other religious
forms, and it would make them all right
with God.
Others might deceive themselves
into thinking that they might live according
to the flesh, and then by going to
the Lord in prayer they might have the matter all forgiven
and corrected, and still be as far along spiritually
as those who live daily a life of faithfulness to God.
Another
error which has deceived many is the teaching that,
after living according to the inclinations of the flesh in
sinful ways, they can go to the priest and obtain absolution,
and that this will make them all right again.

Now these are deceptions.
God has established a general
principle which applies both to the Church and to
the world.
This general principle operates along the lines
of sowing and reaping.
Suppose a man unfamiliar with
the nature of certain seeds should sow seed of thistles or
of tares.
A little later he might visit his field and say,
"This seed seems to have been all right.
I see nothing
wrong.
It has not hurt the ground in any respect; the
field looks as well as if I had sown timothy seed or clover
seed.
The plants are green and thrifty, and indeed make
quite a fine appearance."
But later in the season the nature
of the crop would make very manifest the dire mistake
in the choice of the seed sown.

In the natural world men are sure to reap in kind as
they have sown.
They would not expect to sow tare seed
and reap a crop of wheat.
The law of cause and effect
is no less inexorable in the spiritual realm.
And so the
Apostle says that "God is not mocked"do not think that
you can do an evil thing and get good results.
Whoever
"sows to the wind shall reap the whirlwind"; whoever
sows to the flesh will reap accordingly; whoever sows to
the Spirit will reap in kind.

THOUGHT THE BEGINNING OF CHARACTER

What is meant, then, by this word "sowing" when referring
to spiritual things?
Apparently it means a course
of life, or conduct, that would bring good results or a
course that would bring evil results.
We sometimes hear
the expression, "That young man is sowing his wild
oats."
The thought is that the conduct of such a one is
evil; and that the conduct of the individual will react
upon his character.
We might go further and say that
all conduct must be incited by previous thought.
In other
words, our thoughts are the initiative in what we are!
To illustrate: When God would create the world He
first had a Plan respecting it.
All that He has been doing
since has been the following out of a Plan that He
originally had.
We might say that it was the good
thoughts of God which led to the good results.

So it has been in the case of Satan.
Satan's course in
the world has been that of sowing evil things, sowing
tares.
His course has been fatal to himself and injurious
to others, and it was the result of the wrong thought
he had before he committed the sin.
He had said in his
heart, "I will ascend into Heaven; I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God;...I will ascend above the
height of the clouds; I will be like the Most High."
(Isaiah 14:13,14.)
He had a covetous spirit, a selfish,
presumptuous spirit, a spirit in opposition to God.

These two spirits are still operative in the worldGod's Spirit and the spirit of the Adversary.
In referring
to things pertaining to humanity, the Apostle speaks of this Adversary spirit as being the spirit of the fleshnot that it is the spirit of the flesh in its original perfection,
but the spirit of the fallen flesh.
It is the spirit of
Satan, which has become dominant in the human family.
The Apostle addresses the words of our text particularly
to the Church, but with a good application to the world
also.
If any of the Lord's people who have been enlightened
and made partakers of the Holy Spirit should
live according to the flesh chiefly, they would surely not
receive the prize of the High Calling.
If they wish to
attain glory, honor and immortality, they must live according
to the Spirit of God, the spirit of God's Law,
the spirit of righteousness.
They must conform their
lives to the life of Christ their Exemplar, or they can
never hope to attain the things promised them.

Because of the imperfection of the flesh inherited
through Father Adam, the Lord's children can never in
this life attain the perfection that they would wish.
There
will be blemishes and weaknesses of brain, of thought,
and of the entire body.
But they should live as nearly
up to the standard as possible, and the Lord will compensate
for their unintentional weaknesses.
His grace will be
sufficient for them to enable them to overcome.
But if
they sow to the flesh, they will reap in the fleshthey
will reap the evil.
However, if they are still loyal to the
Lord, and repent of their derelictions, striving to overcome,
He will overrule these experiences for their good.

LOYAL HEART THE FIRST REQUISITE

It is therefore for the Church to sow according to the
Spirit, to conduct themselves according to the Spirit of
God, who is a righteous Spirit Being.
In order to do
this, we see that the heart must be right.
So the getting
of our hearts right is the very first thing the Lord sets
before us.
We cannot even become His children until
our hearts are right.
We must turn from sin and accept
the atonement of the great Sin-Bearer.
Then we must
heed the words of our Lord, "If any man will be My disciple,
let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow
Me." In so doing we are sowing to the Spirit.
If we continue thus to sow, we shall reap the great rewardall the glorious spiritual things the Lord has promised
to His faithful ones of the Gospel Age.

But in proportion as we are derelict, as we sow seeds
of evil, in that same proportion shall we be sowing to
corruption.
This does not necessarily mean the Second
Death; but there will be corrections and stripes for the
things which are improper.
Whoever, therefore, sows a
little to the flesh will reap accordingly.
If he continues
to sow according to the flesh, he will reap a much larger
measure of resultsgreater corruption.
And if his life
be given over to sin, if he has abandoned the life of the
Spirit entirely, the effect will be the Second Death, which
is the extreme penalty of wilful opposition to God.

Hence, sowing to the flesh might or might not mean
certainly to reap the Second Death.
It would surely
mean to reap difficulty, tendencies away from God, in proportion
to the evil sowing.
With the spirit-begotten it
would surely lead to the Second Death if the course is
not changed.
We see this matter illustrated in many
Christian people.
They begin the Christian course, and
live to a considerable degree to the Spirit of God, yet
they occasionally give way to the things of the flesh and
more or less encourage the fleshly mind.
They do not
perhaps realize any immediate results, but there are evil
seeds sown.
These evil seeds, evil thoughts in the mind,
even if afterwards repented of, may more or less corrupt [R5666 : page 109] the mind all the rest of life; they tend away from
the Lord, away from the Heavenly things, and make so
much more to fight against.
The Christian should see to
it that all of his course in life, his desires, his thoughts,
are brought into accord with the spirit of a sound mind,
the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit.

Sowing to the Spirit and sowing to the flesh would,
we understand, mean either to live according to God's
way or, on the other hand, to live according to the spirit
of the Adversaryto sow seed that will result either in
the blessed fruits of the Holy Spirit of God or in the
fruits of the fallen fleshthe corrupted, Satanized spirit
with all its accompaniments.
If we live according to our
flesh, it will mean corruption, moral and spiritual degeneration;
for we are in the corruptible condition.

PRESENT COURSE OF WORLD TO BEAR ON FUTURE

In their present condition the world cannot hope to
gain everlasting life; for they have not come into relationship
with the Life-Giver, although God has provided,
as the Church knows, an opportunity for everlasting life
to the whole world of mankind.
But while the world is
not yet on trial for this everlasting life, nevertheless their
conduct has a decided bearing on their future.
If now
they are living according to the lines of selfishnessself-gratificationthey will reap correspondingly, according
to the influences that are at work in them.
And this will
leave them in a more and more corrupted condition as
they continue so to live, and they will have more to overcome
in the next Age, if they would ever gain everlasting
life.
They would be much more advanced and advantaged
if they would follow the things of righteousness,
if they would cultivate the principles of justice and love;
and they will be much more degraded and handicapped if
they follow the things of selfishness and impurity.

We might carry the matter clear back to Eden.
In
the case of Father Adam, when he sowed to self-gratification,
when he ate of the forbidden fruit, he followed
the wrong course; he failed to follow his best judgment,
his conscience; he followed inclination.
As a result he
brought upon himself the death penalty, which gradually
led to extinction of life; and all his posterity have shared
his condemnation.
Sad was the sowing, and most bitter
and far-reaching has been the reaping.
But through the
mercy of God even man's terrible experiences with sin
will prove a very valuable object lesson to angels and to
all of God's intelligent creatures throughout eternity.